Leighann Anderson's Blog

About Leighann Anderson

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Well, my name is Leighann (pronounced: Lay-ann) and I was born in a town named Paisley in Scotland. As a child I was always writing stories, most of which were dominated by grammar mistakes - I was never good at it until I taught myself; my English teacher wasn't very encouraging. I mostly wrote poetry but I do also write novels; fantasy mostly but I have written one drama, not my forte, actually. During my high school career I was well known for my writing of poetry and I was published twice during; first at age 15 and then at age 17 (my mother was very proud, actually the talent comes from her, she, too, is a published poet). However, I have been published in a range of anthologies since then. Some of the poetry I have posted on here is from my teenage years but most are new. I am hoping to self publish my first anthology titled: Eternal Light, very soon regardless of how short I hope everyone who buys it will find at least one poem that they find captivating.

I am a person with a strange combination of hobbies; I love sports such as rugby, swimming, and another two which I actually do: Archery and Taekwondo, I have done those sports since I was 19. I adore reading but I do tend to stick with what I like: mythology, geological textbooks, Biology, Ecology, art, particularly Chinese and Japanese, fantasy stories, anthologies that I am also published in, and books on what I believe in - Paganism, which is firmly based on nature, which I believe should be more cherished than it is at present. I also seem to collect cookery books almost subconsciously because I have quite a few, most are vegetarian and baking, but due to having "dedicated carnivores" in my family I have a few that have recipes on everything; I've been a vegetarian for 9 years (2002). I am also in to Art which I managed to get an Advanced Higher in before I left school so I still draw whenever I have time. People ask me why I never went to Art school but my answer always was is that geology was my future career; I didn't want to turn a hobbie into work.

I am working on a novel titled (at the moment): Lazuel: Dark Beginnings, based on a non-stereotypical vampire named Lazuel - it does not follow the traditional vampire supersitions. It is a fantasy/horror and I hope during the summer to be able to advance on 4 chapters; I have only written a prologue and 3 chapters. It will not be suitable for young readers due to the gore and descriptive images. Hopefully, it will be successful.

I have a poetry group on facebook: Poetry Corner, the image is a scroll. Everyone is more than welcome to join if they wish.

Age limits to novels

Blog Posted:5/16/2011 3:34:00 PM

I have been writing a novel thus titled: Lazuel: Dark Beginnings, for about 4 years, however, I have not touched it for 3 of those years due to university taking up most of my time. This has, I have found, caused me to forget most of the ideas I had when I started writing it, which I find rather irksome and disappointing.

The story is a horror/fantasy, based on a character named Lazuel who is a vampire but I have done away with 90% of the stereotypical stuff and created my own using fantasy as the basis. The problem I am having is what "Age Limit" I should put this novel in; I know, for certain, it is NOT for children; age 5 - 13, but I am also wondering about young teenagers; age 13 - 16. In some scenes in the novel it is rather gruesome and, quite frankly, the imagery I have used makes this more vivid. For example read a phrase taken from the novel below:

"Suddenly, Lazuel begun to feel his internal organs fall away and on to the ground with a light, wet thump; his eyes seemed to be sliding out of their sockets, his intestines tumbled out of him like unfolding chains, his lungs, liver and heart fell to the floor like sliding snow on top of a steep hill....."

In some scenes taboo is used but I try not to use it too much. Should only 18+ read this kind of thing?

Post Comments

From my point of view. I must say that I am only seventeen years of age and I have read some very interesting material, mainly romance but some occasional horror I have to agree with Andrea that its all about maturity. I love a juicy book but I know what I can and can not handle. Mainly I think that you should place your book under 14 and above simply because I feel that at thirteen I wasn't much into nightmares or books encouraging them. But at around 14 maturity started embedding its roots and here I am now, tackling books written for 34 year olds.